Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Fire or Ice? ❯ An Old Friend ( Chapter 16 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

By: Kaiya

OK, in the chapter after this, I'm gonna raise the rating to mature, because of a rather... painful scene. Hope you enjoy! Please Review.

Love,

Robin

Chapter Sixteen

An Old Friend

/Ruri's laughter filled the black, empty void around them. Arc sat there, trying to think of a way out of there, when her eyes spotted... something. No, someone... very familiar.

“R-rika”, she said in disbelief.

The pale girl lifted up her head and looked at Arc. Her eyes were almost colorless, and her cheeks were hollow. Dark circles rested under her eyes, and her lips were a pale purple.

“W-who are you”, she asked in a low, raspy voice.

She hadn't used it in a long, long time.

“It's me, Archer”, she said hopefully.

“Who”, the girl asked.

Recognition hit Arc hard, as she remembered that Ruri had used her body, and given her soul a place to rest; a place to be happy in.

And this was the place, inside of Ruri's mind.

“How long have you been here”, she asked.

“I-i don't know. I lost count after the first few weeks.”

Just than, Ruri appeared behind Rika.

“What are you two talking about”, she asked.

“What are you going to do to us”, Arc asked.

Rika shook with fear as Ruri still stood behind her.

She bent down and rested her head on Rika's shoulder as she placed her arms around her other shoulder, and played with her hair.

“Come now, Arc. How many times have I told you that I want you by my side?”

She rubbed her face against the shivering girl's cheek as she looked at Archer.

“I've had your little friend here for quite sometime now. But, she bores me now”, she said with a sigh.

“Which is why I brought you here. Besides the fact that I had to get away from your annoying little friends.”

She placed her hand on Rika's throat and her nail grew longer and longer until it went all the way across her throat.

“You know what? I think you've been here long enough”, she said in a mocking tone of voice.

Rika shook with fear as Arc's temper started to boil.

“Ruri, get away from her”, she said in a cold, almost dead of all emotion voice.

She looked up at Arc's face and smirked.

“What, do you want her as your pet?”

Arc lost it.

“She is not a pet! She's a human being!”

A chill laugh erupted from Ruri's throat as she lightly drug her finger over the girl's exposed neck. A trail of blood trickled down her throat, and rolled down onto her partly bared chest, and ripped shirt.

“Are you fond of her, too?”

“Leave her alone Ruri!”

“I think not”, she said as she turned her head and looked down at Rika's shaking form. She had tears falling freely down her cheeks.

Ruri was about to rip her throat open when Arc broke free of her chains and attacked Ruri.

She jumped back as Arc threw a punch at her face that had a flame attached to it. She missed, and Arc raised her hand, and a string of ice flew out and cut the side of Ruri's face. Another string came out and hit her in the stomach, piercing her skin.

A low, shrill cry was heard from her as Arc pulled on the string, so that it sliced through her body and came out on the side.

“Stop”, she yelled, but Arc had no intentions of stopping, not now, not ever.

When she advanced on her with an ice dagger, Ruri laughed. Arc stopped in her tracks and looked at her.

“Y-you can't kill me”, she said in between breaths.

Arc paid no attention to her words as she continued to make her way towards her.

“This is my world, fool”, Ruri bellowed as she began to rise in the air.

“You cannot kill me here.”

Arc smirked and than jumped up in the air and tried to stab her. She missed, and Ruri kicked it out of her hands. Arc fell back to the surface of water that she could stand on, or at least, she use to.

She fell in the water and than came back up for air.

“I told you this is my world, dear ; my mind. You cannot escape me now.”

Arc raised her hand again, and out shot another string of ice that wrapped itself around her neck. She gasped for air, as her face started to turn red.

“We. Will. Leave.”

She pulled on the string, and Ruri's head was sliced off. Her head fell into the water, her body accompanying it shortly there after.

“Rika, are you all right”, Arc asked as she made her way over to the still shaking girl.

She just stared of into space as her lips trembled with the rest of her body.

“Rika, it's going to be all right now”, she tried to soothe.

“Y-you d-don't know what you've done”, she answered her quietly.

“What are you talking about?”

“We're still trapped in here”, she screamed.

“Ruri may be gone, but she will return. She always does. Don't you get it? This is her world, her mind. She controls everything here, and everyone in it”, she said bitterly.

“What-”, Arc stopped as she thought about her words.

'Everyone in it.'

“Rika, that's it. I know how to get us out”, she stated cheerfully.

Rika looked up at her with hope in her eyes.

“How”, she asked softly.

“Well, I killed Ruri, and that's how she left. And you said that she controls the people in here. Well, what if we left, like she did? We would return to our bodies, wouldn't we?”

Rika just kept on staring at her, and than she let her eyes fall to her bare, dirty feet.

“I-I have no body to return to.”

“Oh, Rika”, she whispered.

“I'm sorry, I forgot.”

Rika smiled and than shook her head.

“No, it's OK. I might not be able to return to my body, but I can go somewhere else. Somewhere where I can be happy. Archer, I've already died, I know that. Maybe now, I can go to heaven.”

“Do you still want to leave?”

“Yes”, she said without a moments hesitation.

“All right, than this is what you have to use.”

She made a dagger of ice and gave it to her, and than made another one for herself.

“I'm glad I met you, Archer”, she said.

“Me too.”

They both stabbed themselves in the heart, and their bodies slumped over and fell into the water. A strong breeze came and their bodies turned into dust and drifted away. /

XXXXX

“There's not much else we can do for her”, Botan said as she and the others looked down at Archer's body that had been placed in a small shrine.

Her hands were clasped over one another, and she wore a blue kimono with a dark blue obi. Her hair was sprawled out over her shoulders and her chest. A single white rose was placed in between her fingers; her deathly pale look was still there.

“I'm sorry Hiei”, Botan said as she walked out with the others.

Yusuke and Kuwabara stopped and looked down at him.

“We're sorry too, Hiei”, they both said as they patted him on the back.

Kurama was the last one to leave.

“Hiei. She will come back”, he said reassuringly.

Hiei said nothing as they all filed out and left him. The doors shut behind them.

Hiei placed his hand on hers, and looked at her face.

“Wake up”, he whispered.

He got no response, as he was use to by now.

He lay his head down on his and hers' hands, and bit down on his lower lip. He stayed like that for long moments before he felt something.

She breathed in a deep breathe, and almost choked. Hiei lifted his head and stared on in wonder at her flushed face.

“Arc”, he said in disbelief.

She looked up at him with tears in her eyes, from almost choking, and smiled.

“Hiei”, she whispered in a scratchy voice.

He grabbed her and hugged her tightly.

“Don't ever do that again”, he said warningly.

She just smiled with relief.

They stayed like that for long moments before he pulled back.

He cleared his throat and said, “The others would like to know that you are all right.”

She smiled and followed him out of the shrine and into Genkai's temple.

Yusuke was the first one to see her, and rush over to her and grab her in a bear hug that lifted her off the ground.

“You're OK!”

“Arc”, everyone yelled, with the exception of Hiei, Genkai, Arc, and Kurama.

Kuwabara, Keiko, Yusuke, and Botan were currently squeezing her to death, when Kurama whispered something to Hiei.

“Told you she'd come back. She loves you.”

“Don't tease me, Fox”, Hiei replied with no venom in his voice.

“And you love her too.”

Hiei looked up at Kurama and smirked.

“My personal life is none of your business. Now, stop pestering me.”

Kurama shrugged his shoulders and walked over towards Arc to give her a hug.

Arc felt like a rag doll after everyone was done squeezing her until her eyes almost popped out.

But, she remembered something that she needed to ask Botan.

“Botan, can you do me a favor”, she asked.

“Sure. What is it”, she asked merrily.

“Can you see if someone went to heaven for me?”

“Uh... I'll have to see. Who is it?”

“Rika Kusanagi.”

“Yeah, I'll see what I can do.”

She turned back towards everyone else that were giving her a weird look.

“Wasn't she the girl that Ruri disguised herself as”, Keiko asked.

“Rika was a real person, that had her soul pretty much eaten and her body stolen. I met her inside of Ruri's world. Or at least, her soul was what was trapped in there.”

She stared off into space as they all looked at her funny.

“Oh, yeah sorry. I didn't tell you guys what happened”, she said in a innocent voice.

“Yeah, what did happen”, Kuwabara asked.

So, Arc went to explaining everything that happened, after they sat down, of course.

When she was done, they all stared at her in shock and awe.

“How did you figure out how to get out of there”, Yusuke asked.

Arc's eye twitched and she said, “I just told you that.”

“OH”, he said as he rubbed the back of his head and laughed.

“Idiot”, a certain fire demon said.

“What was that, shorty?”

'Ah, yes. Everything is back to normal', Arc thought with a small, happy sigh. She couldn't hide the smile that curved her lips, nor did she want to.

XXXXX

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